All Forum Posts by: Katie Johnson

@Donald Bastien I house-hacked my 3 bed/3.5 bath townhouse in the Heights area of Houston for 5 years (2016 to 2021). I lived in the master bedroom and then always rented the other two bedrooms out. This didn't cover my entire mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc. but it made it much cheaper for me to live in the Heights which is where I wanted to be at the time. The Heights is a central neighborhood that is very popular area to live for people in their 20s & 30s - lots of bars and restaurants close by.  I maybe could have rented each room out for more money per month but I preferred to have it rented out quicker rather than the room sit empty. I never had trouble finding people to rent the rooms - I posted on nextdoor, facebook, craigslist, and any other room share type site I could think of. I think it helped that everyone had their own bathroom and also an off street parking spot. The house had a two car garage and was at the back of the little grouping of 6 townhomes (inside an automatic gate) so my house had an additional spot right out front (off the street). I only had one truly bad roommate in the 5 years that I did it & I didn't renew let her renew her lease when it was up. I had some roommates that stayed for 3 years, some for 6 months, some for a year - it just kind of varied. Anyways, happy to share more details if you have any questions!

@Timothy Church okay great! We'll see you there then. 

Hi @Timothy Church, my fiancé and I live in Houston and are in the beginning stages of researching/learning about real estate investing. I owned a townhouse in the heights that I “house hacked” for 5 years by renting out my two extra rooms so I have a little experience with that but am trying to learn about other investment strategies. We’ve always talked about how we might like to live in Galveston so we are trying to learn more about the Galveston market and what our options could be - maybe a duplex and rent one side out, etc. Anyways, this is a long-winded way of me wanting to ask if this meet up is okay for newbies to attend?